From The Syria Campaign Facebook Page 18 May 2016:
“This is a victory for public pressure!
“We would have never talked about it just a month ago.” – Staffan De Mistura, UN Syria envoy on the airdrops announcement yesterday.
A month ago together we started pushing the International Syria Support Group (the US, Russia and others supposedly helping to stop the violence) saying they should conduct airdrops of aid to besieged areas if the Assad regime continues to block land access.
Many said it would never happen.
– The UN said publicly they couldn’t do it
– Key countries said publicly they wouldn’t do it
– Other organisations said it’d be impossible
But together we dug in.
– We published appeals from the women of Daraya and the Daraya Local Council
– We sent 13,000+ emails to key countries on the ISSG
– Many jumped on the phone and called these country missions in NY and Geneva
– We organised a public letter from more than 25 key European politicians
– We pushed calls from Syrians out to the media far and wide
– Women Now for Development spoke to the press and broke the stories of women living under siege
– An open letter from women at the Women Now centre in Daraya mobilised protests across Syria and received solidarity from parliamentarians and women in Europe who raised their voice in support of their demands
– Friends from Syria Solidarity UK organised protests and statements from activists in support of airdrops
– and much more besides..
Well yesterday the ISSG called for it. If Assad doesn’t open the road by 1st of June, they are calling on the UN to set up an air bridge to all besieged areas.
Ahmad from Daraya said “We can’t judge or celebrate until we see the aid with our own eyes. We were hopeful during these last two months of peace but now we’re being shelled again. Our wheat harvests are being burned. The regime is trying to make the siege even more difficult.”
That’s why this is only a first step. We need to make sure the UN don’t ask for permission they’ll never get. We need to make sure countries who are part of the ISSG use all means to get this aid in.
And we need to make sure that this is movement towards ensuring sustained access to all areas across Syria. Airdrops are a sticking plaster, they’re not a solution to the problem. No civilians should be going hungry because their government is blocking aid.
There is so much bleak news on Syria, and so much of it eclipses this little bit of good news. But let’s celebrate this important win and use it to energise us.
If this is possible then we must work together to achieve much, much more.
We have seen the hint of a backbone from the international community that everyone assumed had disappeared. We must keep pushing to break the sieges, stop the barrel bombs and unlock the dungeons holding so many political prisoners.
Well done everyone. Onwards.”